Even though most business property must be depreciated over a period of time, you can still speed up write-offs if you’re armed with tax knowledge. That’s because your not-so-secret weapon—the Section 179 expensing allowance—lets you write off most or all of the cost of most business assets in the very first year of ownership! Here are the ground rules.

Under Section 179 of the tax code, you can elect to instantly deduct, or “expense,” the cost of qualified business assets bought and placed in service during the year, up to a certain limit.

Back in 2003, the maximum allowance was quadrupled from $25,000 to $100,000. Subsequent changes have pushed the limit even higher. Prior to 2008, the maximum deduction allowed under law was $125,000 (plus inflation adjustments), subject to phase-out.

Initially, the inflation-indexed amount for 2008 was set at $128,000. However, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 increased the m...(register to read more)

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